


I Love You For Your Soul (And You're A Pretty Good Apocalypse Partner Too)

by Ryenan



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Deaf Character, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryenan/pseuds/Ryenan
Summary: It takes five tries for the call to go through to Hux’s phone, and Kylo knows it could cut out at any minute.“Kylo? Kylo what do we – ““Hux, shut up and listen. There’s a filter mask and pair of goggles under the coffee table, put those on right now. Then put your socks, underwear, some shirts, whatever, in a bag, and boots, and toiletries, and whatever the fuck else you can think of. Okay?”His voice is muffled, probably from talking through the mask, but Hux understands most of what he says.“Yeah, okay, I can – ““There’s a gun in the bedside table on my side, get it out and load it. Lock the door, push the couch in front of it, and don’t open the door for anyone but me, and only if you’re absolutely sure.”“I love you.”“I love you. I’ll see you in thirty, maybe longer.”





	1. Chapter 1

It takes five tries for the call to go through to Hux’s phone, and Kylo knows it could cut out at any minute.

“Kylo? Kylo what do we – “

“Hux, shut up and listen. There’s a filter mask and pair of goggles under the coffee table, put those on right now. Then put your socks, underwear, some shirts, whatever, in a bag, and boots, and toiletries, and whatever the fuck else you can think of. Okay?”

His voice is muffled, probably from talking through the mask, but Hux understands most of what he says.

“Yeah, okay, I can – “

“There’s a gun in the bedside table on my side, get it out and load it. Lock the door, push the couch in front of it, and don’t open the door for anyone but me, and only if you’re absolutely sure.”

“I love you.”

“I love you. I’ll see you in thirty, maybe longer.”

* * *

 

It’s not like the world has been living in a state of fear for the last thirty years. Just… vigilance. No one can maintain a society of fear for that long, it would collapse. Kylo wasn’t considered particularly paranoid – hiding guns and respirators and having bug-out bags prepacked wasn’t considered unreasonable or kooky. As the son of the Secretary of State, precautions and pre-planning were as natural to him as could be.

If people knew he owned a fortified cabin-compound upstate, they might think differently. Or if they could see how extensively his car was modified – no pop tires, extended gas tank, steel mesh over the windows – they would probably be concerned. But to most, he was a regular, well educated, prepared, sensible young man.

Hux was who they considered an anomaly – he lived in an old high rise in Atlanta, in a flat that didn’t even have a steel door or a panic room. He didn’t personally own a gun, walked to work, and didn’t wear his hearing aids half the time. This lack of vigilance - which so many people were accustomed to since birth – was unsettling to most.

But Hux didn’t need to be vigilant, he had Kylo. When he was little, his parents had taken care of him. By the second week of kindergarten, Kylo had devoted himself to taking care of him. There had only been eight months – ever - in twenty-four years – that he had been alone. He spent those months with then-Senator Organa, laying on Kylo’s bed, half trying to do school work, half just crying. Kylo returned to him, whole, and they never spoke of any of it. Late at night, Hux would trace a soft finger across the thick dark scar, but he never said a word.


	2. Chapter 2

The Atlanta traffic, is, surprisingly, only slightly worse than usual. Then again, it’s difficult to get worse with a default state of absolutely, mind-bogglingly frightening. There are seemingly fewer cars than normal for four forty-five on a Friday afternoon, but maybe too many people are scared to go outside. The Initial report from the CDC was announced half an hour ago, which meant the contaminant – and the dead – had been spreading for an hour or two, minimum. He just hopes there’s time to get out of town.

The apartment is only a few minutes from the interstate, and Kylo plans on being in and out so fast the engine doesn’t have time to cool at all. Hux is packed, prepared, waiting, and Kylo’s been training for this his whole life.

* * *

 

He hasn’t even thought to call his mother – she has probably been ensconced in an underground bunker somewhere, with no cell service. If she was alive, she was alive. She would call when she got a chance.

* * *

 

The sidewalk in front of the front door of the apartment complex is clear, so Kylo bounces the jeep over the curve and parks so that he’s barricading the doors. If a horde comes, they won’t reach the doors.

Kylo runs up the stairs, seven flights, and knocks on the second door.

“Hux, It’s me, I’m here – “

“Tell me something only Kylo Ren would know or I’ll shoot you through the door.”

“My dad tried to kill you in third grade because he thought you were me. You cut your hair short so he wouldn’t make that mistake again.”

There is barely a moments pause before the sound of a couch sliding against the floor, then the bolt being thrown open.

“We take the stairs, follow me, keep the gun in one hand but turn the safety back on. Do you have everything?”

“I packed your socks and jeans and all that, and put Phasma’s collection of baseball bats in the bag too.”

“I’d die for you.”

“I’d follow you down.”


	3. Chapter 3

The roads are surprisingly clear – It doesn’t seem like people are flooding out of the city, like they’ve all decided to huddle up in their houses, just go on lock down instead. So they race out of the city, eighty, ninety miles an hour, and only pass three cars in one hundred and fifty miles.

“Kylo? Have you heard from your mom?”

“She’s probably locked down. Tuesday is morning meeting day; she would be somewhere secure. I hope. I bet.”

“Let’s stop for slushies. See if there’s any news.”

“Babe – “

“It started in Atlanta, and a zombie can’t drive. So it should be fine. Please? Cherry slush, Kylo. Cherry slush. It could be one of the last we ever have. “

“Put on the jacket in the backseat, and load a handgun. Are your shoes tied?”

“Shoes are tied.”

Kylo took the next exit with a sign for a RaceTrac gas station. It was right off the exit ramp, and there was only one other car parked in the front. Without discussion, Hux waited to exit the car until Kylo had swept around to his side, gun up, but shoulders relaxed.

“All clear, but take the safety off. We go in back to back, clear the isles first. Assume hostile until auditory confirmation.”

“Yessir daddy oh. Ready when you are.”

Kylo huffs in annoyance, but begins a slow, sideways march in towards the little convenience store.

The twinkle of the doorbell is jarring to Kylo, but Hux doesn’t seem to notice. Kylo makes a mental note to chastise him about his hearing aids later. Back to back they scan the aisles, slowly approaching the counter where a slim young man stands with his hands above his head.

“I’ve already got the till open and –“

“Is there anyone else here?” Hux sounds almost dreamy when he asks, as if he couldn’t care less. It isn’t an affectation, his speech has been oddly pitched and slurred since he stopped speech therapy in high school.  Concentrating on his inflection and pitch just made Hux nervous and self-conscious.

“Nnn-no there’s not – “

“Alright then!” Hux lowers his gun and beams, bright white teeth shocking the young cashier. “Is it 99 cent slushy month? Because I could use a giant slushy right about now.”

The cashier is still staring, slack jawed, as Hux goes to the slush machines.

“What flavor, Kyy?”

“Cherry. Dude, is it 99 cent month or what?”

“yes, yes sir, just two? That’s two fourteen.”

Kylo pulls out his wallet and passes the man three dollars as he hesitantly lowers his arms.

“I can’t carry both of these and a gun, Kyy, come get your cherry abomination.”

* * *

 

They clear the gas station with no trouble, and the next fifty miles to Knoxville make Kylo a little paranoid for how empty it is. Hux just lounges with a paper roadmap across his lap, humming loudly, occasionally reaching out to skate his fingertips along Kylo’s knuckles where he has the steering wheel in a death grip.

“It’s too calm. I sort of expected the apocalypse to be loud. And busy.”

“It might be a little louder if you were wearing your hearing aids, Hux.”

“This rattletrap makes too much noise; I’ll get a headache. I’ll put them in if we stop again.”

Kylo sighs and looks over to take Hux’s hand. Then it all goes to shit.


	4. Chapter 4

 The jeep doesn’t stop. Even a stock, unmodified jeep would keep plowing on, but Kylo’s definitely doesn’t.

“Shit, shit shit shit what was that – “

Hux strains against his seatbelt to look out the back window, where a man – bloody, mostly naked, looks like someone ran him over – is slowly standing back up.

“It is getting back up…can’t tell if you broke any bones, but it is bleeding. Plan of action?”

“I’m not stopping to deal with it. Where there is one, there are probably a dozen more. Keep an eye out for more, but sit back down.”

Hux twists back to the front, right in time for Kylo to swerve quickly around a man who ran out in the road ahead of them.

“Help!”

“He appears alive, Kyy – “

“Good for him, hope he survives.”

“There’s a horde behind him. Please stop and let me clean them out.” Hux has a sweet streak, and Klyo always relents when he says please, even if it's against his better judgment.

Kylo thinks logistics for a second before bringing the jeep to a shrieking halt.

“45 seconds. Go!”

He pulls the grate down from the converted skylight, then slides the steel panel back while Hux unzips the gun bag – just a black duffel with a red tag on it – and pulls out “Millicent”. Kylo pulls away as Hux lurches up, one knee on the elbow-box and the other braced precariously on the seat.

Kylo puts a hand on the closest ankle, but stays facing forward, ready to drive, watching the front and right side as Hux begins to pick of the people in the field.

“One, two, three, whoops, okay, three, four, five…” Hux sings, climbing the scale, a count for every shot.

Kylo gives him two taps on the ankle and calls out that he only has twenty seconds left as Hux shoots twice more. There’s still no movement in front of them or to the right, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be soon.

“Ten seconds!”

One last shot and Hux slides the gun back through the hatch, slithering down into his seat with it. He’s grinning and her fingers are twitching, but he flips the safety and starts puttig on his seatbelt.

“What were they like?” Kylo asks, accelerating slowly in the hope of not making too much noise and drawing any attention.

“Ambulatory, but no motor skills. They could walk pretty fast, but they weren’t using their arms, yeah? Faces were slack, and they looked really nasty for being fresh.”

“Nasty like dirty or nasty like blood?”

“Blood. Who knows if they were biters or eaters though. And how did they get up here so fast?”

“No idea babe. Are you buckled in?”

“I’m great.”

Kylo hits the gas harder, and they get back on track.


End file.
